


Adam Ruins his Magic

by Tezca



Series: Guardian of Harmony 'Verse [1]
Category: Adam Ruins Everything
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Canon Divergence, Developing Relationship, F/M, Gen, Magic, Magical Realism, not a lot of ruining here just to be upfront
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 07:04:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17340827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tezca/pseuds/Tezca
Summary: There is the best way to find out the truth behind something unique about you, and there is the worst possible way. Unfortunately for Adam when it came to his magic, which isn't just constraint to his tv show, it was the latter.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Did I just write a more serious and dramatic fanfic for a comedy/educational show with not too many plot points? Yep I did, here you go.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy and feel free to send any concrit my way, I like getting concrit and I would appreciate any a lot.
> 
> Also the first chapter takes place at the end of Adam Ruins Death. The rest takes place after Adam Ruins the Future

This place was unlike any place she’s seen. It certainly looked and felt like Earth with the brilliant blue sky and the wonderful foliage around her. The temperature also felt comfortable, not to warm and not cold. The small grassy meadow around her looked almost manicured like someone has decided to trim the grass around here. But Emily was pretty sure this wasn’t Earth. About 90 maybe 95 percent sure? At any rate, there’s another topic Adam can ruin for his show she mused to herself, ‘Adam Ruins Space’. That’ll be interesting to say the least. 

Or actually more like ‘Adam Ruins Your Reality’ after she gave it some thought. After all, he had revealed right before he teleported them that he hadn’t been completely truthful about his TV host powers. Naturally, she had questions raised that she wanted to be answered. Burning questions that she wanted to know sooner rather than later. But she wanted to give him some space first. They had come from a funeral after all. 

He didn’t even want to ruin anything, that's how bad of a mood he was in. Very understandable of course. She chastised herself mentally a little bit for being a little too fast in trying to cheer him up. That was admittedly a little stupid, but Adam was her friend, well not close friends yet, but still friends enough. Enough so that she felt her heart twinge with sadness at the sight of his despair. So while he laid down a few feet behind her, she took to wandering around close by. Some space and time to contemplate what happened would do her some good as well. Breath in the cool air and take in the scenery.

She was mildly surprised to hear the familiar bird chirps, sounded like they came from a nearby forest. Still pretty sure this wasn’t Earth. Actually, why was she wondering that anyways? For all she knew Adam could’ve teleported them to another part of the Earth. But somehow, despite the fact she can’t explain one iota why, it felt otherworldly. Almost ethereal even. Even with all that, there was a palpable solemn mood surrounding both of them as Emily walked back over. She sat down next to him and placed her cane aside.

“This place is very nice,” She commented after a second or two passed. 

She was a little unsure of what to say to break the silence so she went for the obvious. She absentmindedly looked around briefly as she brushed her long dark brown out of her face. Adam looked towards her, a little jostled out of the forlorn trance he was in looking up at the sky. It was clear the event that led up to Hayley’s death and the funeral was still fresh on his mind.

Adam gave her a small smile, “Oh thanks.”

“It's peaceful and relaxing. Where are we exactly?” Her voice was calm and pleasant.

“My own private Earth,” Adam truthfully said, in a voice that was unlike the usual when he gets into his ‘ruin something with the truth’ mode. 

Informative, but without the rude matter of fact way he goes about it.

“It’s an Earth away from Earth if you will. I come here when I actually want to be alone for a little while.”

She nodded in understanding, everyone has those moments when they want to escape the world for a while. Wait what, Earth away from Earth? As on another planet? Emily can’t help but give him a slightly dumbfounded look. So this definitely wasn’t Earth at all. That weird hunch she couldn’t explain was correct after all! But she was still confused, that would mean And just then she remembered that key revelation Adam told her earlier. 

That he was lying about the parameters of his tv host powers. 

“So...we’re on another planet?” Emily said slowly, but questioningly

“Yep!” Some of that happy, boyish smile reappeared. That was good, that meant Adam still didn’t mind talking. That and he is a little less inconsolable as before. At least at any rate.

Just anything except what happened and trying to get him into his usual mood. Adam will go back to his usual self on his own terms she reminded herself. She didn’t want to accidentally make any more awkward mistakes. 

“Of course this planet only exists whenever I come here,” Adam sat up as he happily supplied the information.

“Right,” Emily said as though she completely understood what he just said. She felt momentarily lost.

But she connected the dots quickly enough afterward and carefully posed the question, “So from what you told me earlier and just now, your magic tv host powers aren’t just for ruining someone misconceptions?”

Adam took a moment before he nodded and looked at Emily, “Nope, I just chose to use them for educational purposes. I was born with them and I don’t know why.”

“Does your family know?”

“Yes. It was my dad that had me promised to use them for educational purposes or to do some good, which was just fine with me. I honestly didn’t know what I can even use them for. Figured combining it with my love of telling people the truth was as good as any.”

Emily needed a moment to take and process everything she just heard. This was new and honestly, a part of her wanted to kinda laugh at the absurdity. A tv host who is in desperate need of social lessons, someone who gets his joy from telling people the harsh truth, has practically godlike power. She did laugh for a second mentally. 

And said tv host was looking aimlessly at the ground lost in his own thoughts. He sat crossed legged with his head down still looking some kind of troubled. Emily was partly surprised she didn’t freak out like one probably would if this was a movie or a tv show. Maybe it was cause she already knew Adam enough to not seriously be too worried. He wasn’t going to go batshit crazy with them, the closest is whichever infuriating way he does to illustrate why someone is wrong about something. 

The information she mentally filed away in her ‘Adam Conover’ file served to put her ease before she even thought about if she should, in a way, stereotypically freak out. Probably wouldn’t do Adam nor this situation any good anyways. Plus she didn’t have the energy if she wanted to freak out like so.

Silence passed and the only sound for the next minute was the sound of birds. Without any long thought, Emily snapped her fingers in order to test something. If Adam still had his powers outside of his show, and she already had utilized them to teach Adam something. Well, she was pretty sure she didn’t have any powers. She would’ve honestly noticed it by now, but she couldn’t help but let out a slightly disappointed sigh.

And of course, annoyingly enough, Adam had to confirm it. 

“Oh, no one else can use them outside of my show. I change reality a little whenever I’m ruining something so whoever knows something I don’t they can use them. Makes it more fun.”

“I wouldn’t know what to do with them if I suddenly had them anyways,” Emily admitted while Adam faced her with a small smile, “Except proving you wrong on something.”

And for the first time today Adam chuckled softly. It faded into a smile and Emily can feel the mood lighting up a bit. For Adam, after the whole female body segment, he realized shortly after that show that he proud for Emily. Emily took the reins and taught him a subject he didn’t really know much about before. 

“That was fun being taught by you Emily. I looked up more about the female body regarding sex later that day so you have my thanks.”

For a slight couple of seconds, Emily thought he was going to go further and start rambling off those said facts he learned. Whether it was about the anatomy, or how exactly a woman gets pregnant. But he became silent. Adam wasn’t in the mood just yet, and plus it would’ve been awkward anyway so this was for the best. 

“Did you ever look into why you even have those powers? I’m sure that would’ve been less awkward than looking up stuff about the opposite sex,” Emily finished with a light-hearted chuckle.

It felt good that by now to see Adam cheered up a little more. Enough to have a little of that pep back into his voice. He shook his head calmly then faced her with a resigned sigh.

“Me and Rhea didn’t find anything. We kept at it for a good long time, up until after I stopped going to college. After that, I figured might as well move on with life.”

“Oh,” Emily felt bad though, that had to suck not finding answers to something as big as magical powers, “You guys didn’t even find any experts about it?”

Now that had to be a little more surprising than finding out powers like that even existed. There had to be some book or someone that explained the hows, the whys, and the purpose of a human, in general, having literal magic. 

“No. All I had was my family who didn’t know any better than I did. Well, now I have you but..” Adam amended himself before he went on, “So far the best guess I have is I'm supposed to use them to protect the Earth or something.”

“Like in some of those movies?”

“Haha yeah. But the people in those movies are way more qualified for it than me. There are probably people in real life more qualified than me.”

“Adam-”

“Em, I’m just a basic cable tv show host who loves to find out the real truth of the world and inform people about it.”

“No argument there. You love doing that more than most. But listen there’s most likely a reason why you have them in the first place.”

Emily wasn’t sure if she said that statement more forcibly than intended. The stubborn part of her didn’t want to take no for an answer. There had to be a reason right? This was different than death. No one knows what the hell happens after death, that was a guarantee. It was also guaranteed that no one on Earth had powers or at least that was her perception before. But here she was with someone that just disproved it. Was there more people that had it and they just don’t know it yet? 

Adam just shrugged at her declaration, “If there is outside of ruining things then I sure as hell don’t know it. Any good I can do for other people I certainly don’t need magic for it. You don’t need magic to give to someone or make them feel better. You don’t need it to go volunteer at the soup kitchen. Or handing out gifts for little children. No one else needs magic to do those things.”

“That is a good point.”

“We don’t even need magic to live our life day to day. Sure it would make life easier in some ways, but if humanity been able to live life and deal with any problems that come along with it without any sort of magic then...why do I have it?”

There was silence as Emily wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to that. She does sympathize with him, Adam probably felt like he didn’t fit in just exactly with the other kids growing up. She probably wouldn’t if she had an ability literally no one else had either. He sounded lost like he gave up on finding an answer. That just gave her motivation to help him find one. She watched Adam lay back down on the grass while she took the moment to take a look again around her. She didn’t want the moment to turn awkward by looking at him too long. 

“You want a change of scenery?” Adam’s voice brought her back around to face him.

After a second or two she nodded, “Oh uhh, sure.”

Adam snapped his fingers and the change was practically almost instantaneous. Instead of a beautiful meadow with flowers around them, it was a beautiful beach with brilliant white sand. And the ocean nearby was straight out of an island paradise in the Caribbean. They were laying up on a little sandy hill where the top of the little hill met the land. Emily felt in awe at how amazing this all looked.

Taking in the moment, Emily decided to lay down on the sand. Even the sand felt comfortable up her back. It wasn’t rocky or too hot, just right. The ocean before her stretches out into the horizon as far as her eye could see. Adam put his hands under his head as Emily spoke up in an effort to cheer him up.

“Adam I’m sure no one will begrudge you if you used your powers to refill a cup of coffee or magic yourself a bowl of popcorn or whatever,” She said sincerely with a reassuring smile.

“I have done little things like that, won’t lie about that. But really, I just...I just want to be like everyone else. I mean as far as what humanity is capable of, I want to be...normal in a way. Even when I use it for the little things….it’s once in a great while.”

“Sounds like you view it as more of a burden outside of your show.”

Adam didn’t reply for a good several seconds, just a silent unspoken agreement in the air between them.

“I thought everyone else had powers like that when it first manifested.”

“When was that?” Emily was on her side now with apt attention on the information Adam revealed.

“13, in the middle of freshman year in high school so that was fun,” Adam ended with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. 

Emily had to do a slight bit of a double take, she hadn’t heard Adam try his hand at sarcasm before. At least outside the context of his show really. But that surprised feeling faded away filled with sincere sadness for him. He must’ve gotten teased or, more than likely, alienated himself more so unintentionally. She scooted closer to him to give him a supportive hug and she felt a strong arm gently wrap about her waist. She rested her head on his chest as the implication set in.

“Sounded like you had a rougher time in high school than most.”

“Oh no, it was ok. Turned out for the best, gave me more time to focus on my true passion in life!” Adam responded with false bravado. It was clearly a facade and it was way more transparent than what Adam probably thought it was. 

“Yeah, that totally sounded convincing…” Emily dryly said with an eye roll.

“No, it was true! I really was fine Emily. More time to research topics for school assignments and whatever I was interested in at the time. More time to focus on my grades. Less chance to be tempted into cheating too, did you know most kids in high school tend to think cheating is ok. According to a CNN poll, around 75 percent-”

“Adam!” Emily raised her voice just enough to catch his attention.

It was painfully obvious Adam was trying too hard. She did not buy one iota of what he said at face value at all. Something was off and he was clearly hiding his true feelings about what happened. Adam looked back and eventually relucted after a good half minute. He realized he was finding it a bit more easy than usual to confess all this. Wonder why? Maybe it was cause he felt like he could confide in Emily enough. The private world helped too.

“Adam you’re lying. Not about the passion in life part, that I believe. I wouldn’t come out feeling ok about it if I was in your shoes. If I was alienated because of unexplained powers, I would feel lost, unsure of who I am and possibly more insecure than I already was in high school.”

“I told my family about it. Told the one or two other know it all nerdy people that I managed to hang out to that point.”

“You had friends in high school?” Emily interrupted in jest then quickly regretted it, “Sorry continue.”

“I told teachers about it, other students there. My family was the only one that didn’t act like I wasn’t...completely human enough.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Emily replied softly, not above a whisper. It was all she can think of to say to that. She heard his voice slightly break at the end of his confession there. 

“My family still loved me unconditionally and did their best with their suggestions.”

“What did they suggest?”

“Keep it in the family. Keep it on the down low. Don’t get me wrong, they were supportive. They tried to help me find answers, but telling me to keep it hidden just made me feel more weird about it.”

Emily’s voice was quiet and calm, “I’m sure they didn’t mean it.”

“Rhea was the only one that seemed to be more disappointed that she didn’t get them.”

Emily laughed lightly, “She’s probably thinking differently now since I doubt you did the whole show thing back then.”

“Yeah, but I happily still told everything the truth behind something!”

“Course you did,” Emily stated before she perked up with a new question, “Couldn’t you done something with your powers to make everyone forget you said anything? Probably could’ve helped a little.”

“Was tempted, but I didn’t. I always felt completely weird about the notion of mind wiping people memories to completely forget something at someone’s whim. I can’t do that Emily. I don’t want to do that to someone, tear away a part of their life experience.”

“That’s very noble of you. I’ve known some people from my high school would probably do that without a second thought to benefit them.”

“I did have some jock types ask if they can pay me to use my powers to make some girl of their dreams fall in love with them or have good grades.”

Emily looked at him almost incredulously, “They did that?!”

Of course some would, who was she kidding. High school students aren’t exactly known for their maturity. 

She felt weirdly revengeful on his behalf. A part of her wanted to find those jocks and give them a hard kick to the ass for trying to take advantage of him. It faded away, but it was a feeling that surprised her since objectively, Adam is not exactly a close friend. Or that was the status before they came here, she wasn’t actually sure anymore. She since felt closer and, well, just plain honored that Adam trusted her enough to tell her all this.

She can see him telling Hayley eventually had she lived. 

“Yeah. I usually got stuffed into a locker after I told them off. Once Rhea came onto the scene those type of requests died down.”

“She scared them off?”

“Yeah. I still got teased, but at least no one asked me to do something magical for them anymore.”

“That’s good.”

It was very good to see that Adam had a strong moral compass. In general and in regards to having powers. Attractive even. Wait hold up, attractive? Adam? That word came right out of blue in her thoughts. She took a look over him as he stared off to the distance. Did his hair always glisten underneath the sun? She caught herself awkwardly looking at his hair and stubble a second too long. ‘No stop Emily, you’re dating Murph, not Adam’ Emily chided herself mentally. She was supposed to think that kinda shit about Murph who was her actual boyfriend, not a nerdy know it all like Adam with socialization problems. 

Besides he was just her friend. Yeah, just a friend. A friend with a really cute stubble there.

The sound of Adam’s voice jostled her out of her thoughts and she quickly pushed those thoughts down into her subconscious. She reminded herself she was fully committed to Murph.

“Emily, do you want to know something factual I discovered about my powers?”

“What?”

“I can’t do two things with my powers, revive dead people which I already told you in the episode, or magic them all away.”

And now Emily felt a little stunned. Did Adam just reveal that he tried to get rid of his magic powers? Not that she blames him, she doesn’t. But he always looked like he enjoyed using them enough. On the other hand, she starkly realized, her frame of reference for that is exclusively from her memories of him using it to ruin a fact.

There was a minute of silence before Emily managed to half awkwardly stammer out a sentence.

“Did...did you just say you...tried to get rid of your powers?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

“Before college started. I just wanted to...be more completely human. Fit in better.”

“You are one Adam,” Emily felt her heart might as well be in a million pieces by now. 

Adam gave a short sigh of disbelief, “Name me one other person who got the same powers as I do. You can’t.”

“No I can’t, but let me stop you right there and ruin that little misconception you have about yourself,” She said firmly but calm as she got up from his hold.

Emily slowly got herself up with the aid of her cane and pulled Adam up along with her. She steadied herself before she defiantly pointed her finger into his chest, “You, Adam Conover, are 100% human. Just cause you’re able to bend reality doesn’t mean you’re any less of a human. You just happened to have something extra that the rest of us don’t.”

“But that’s the thing Em, a regular human doesn’t have them. And this shouldn’t even be possible either. There’s nothing out there in science, in any scientific field to really back up why I can do this,” Adam demonstrated by turning the ocean near them a shade of pink with a wave of his hand. 

The two glanced out into the distance. The pink was in stark contrast to the blue sky, definitely felt like one could get a headache if they stared too long. Especially when the shade of pink is bordering on eye-searing neon pink.

Emily rubbed her eyes a bit as she torn her gaze away and back to Adam. It was blindingly pink and the blue sky didn’t really help either in juxtaposition. Luckily she thinks she can get used to it if she focused more on Adam. And damn that black suit brings out the blue in his eyes. A rich shade of blue hiding behind clear glasses. How’d she not noticed that before? She felt her cheeks slightly heat up.

“Well there has to be some reason, maybe its genetics! Maybe there some gene that caused it and we simply just don’t know about it yet,” Emily suggested.

”I doubt it. If it was we probably would’ve found one or two examples of someone being born with them. And we looked up historical texts too, not one mention of any strange sorcery that can’t be explained in the past.” 

Emily still wasn’t dissuaded. She wanted to help Adam find out where his powers came from. Well, that is if he wanted to. If it was up to her, she would keep on looking. Even if it took her most of her life and it’s only when she is 80 or 90 that she decides to give it up.

And before Emily could make up a reply Adam spoke up.

“We also tried to do a genetics test. That’s was Dad’s idea, he had a geneticist friend. But he and mom ended up more worried about how crazy and out there it all sounded at the last minute.”

“I see.”

Emily took a calm breath and looked back out into the pink water again. Gentle waves washed up onto the sand slowly. It was still relaxing to watch, even if the color wasn’t normal to her expectations of what the color should be. Still enough to give her a headache if she stared at it too long. The air right now between them was less somber and more at ease. Relaxed. Adam looked like he was alright now, the smile he had was evidence of that. 

“In some respects, I do feel alone because of these powers,” Adam began as he snapped the ocean back to its original blue color, “Still do but, I’ve long ago accepted that they’ll be a part of me for the rest of my life. It’s one of the great mysteries of life, the hardest to ruin out there.”

“Aside for what happens after death.”

“True but you know what I mean,” Adam replied matter of factly, “I am glad that I was able to combine my powers with telling people why they are wrongs on things. Hence my show.”

Adam turned around to face Emily as he gently gripped her shoulders with both hands. He adopted a gentle but pleaded expression in his eyes.

“I just ask of one thing from you Emily. Please don’t tell anyone that I can use them freely outside of Adam Ruins Everything.”

Emily looked at him for a second or two before confidently nodding. She can certainly do that, who’d believe her anyway.

“Yes. Yes I promise not to tell anyone,” Emily nodded then smiled warmly but friendly. 

Adam smiled in relief he didn’t know he had and hugged Emily. Dang who also knew before her that his hugs were strong but gentle and soothing. How is it that all these little things about Adam so far escaped her rader before? She mentally still had to ask herself that even though she knew the answer. Emily found herself in the moment enough to reciprocate the hug. She found herself disappointed when he broke off his embrace after what seemed like a good long while. In reality, it was only several seconds.

She also noticed that they were back on Earth, the actual Earth, and near the entrance of the church where Hayley’s funeral was held. The brick wall of the building near the entrance was to her left and the road to her right. She can hear the telltale sounds of other people in the not so far distance behind him. Apparently, the service must’ve just ended. 

Adam tensed up a bit when he noticed people coming out the door. His voice was a little awkward, but apologetic at the same time, “Oh shoot I might’ve gotten us here a little late.”

But Emily quickly reassured him with a gentle hold on his arm, “It’s ok, I’ll just tell Murph our walk went a bit longer than anticipated. He’ll buy it.”

“Alright. Then I guess I’ll just head home. Thanks for coming, I really do appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. I actually...did have a nice time with you...umm, back there.”

Saying ‘back there’ there just made it sound like they were elsewhere having sex. Which made her feel a little awkwardly dirty, like she was cheating on Murph or something. But it was for lack of a better euphemism to refer to where she was a minute ago.

Adam said his goodbyes and started to make his way to his bike when Emily suddenly pulled him back by the arm. She made sure to keep her voice low enough so only the blond haired man can hear.

“Wait don’t you still want to find out the truth behind your powers? I can help,” Emily still didn’t find it right that Adam seemed to give up on the idea of finding more about his supernatural ability. 

“Thanks for the offer, but there isn’t anything you can do that we haven’t already done. Plus maybe this is one of those things I'm not supposed to know. Besides, you said it earlier yourself, sometimes it's ok not to know.”

“But that..that was about death Adam, that’s different! That was before I found out..more about you,” Emily stammered out without much thinking. Adam did not have the right to go and throw her words back at her. She continued, not letting Adam have the opportunity to make his rebuttal.

“That’s not the same thing as powers! If I had something like that I would want to...ugh I don’t know...find some damn expert or somebody to explain why I have something as socially alienating as magical powers straight out of a fantasy book or movie!” 

She let out, perhaps a tad too frantic, but the question of how this was even possible was still present in the back of her head. Emily paced around a bit and made a full circle around before she felt a gentle grip on her shoulder.

“Emily, Em relax I’m fine with it, I long ago fully accepted it. It’s better to just let it go at this point. If I decide to give it another shot then I know who to ask for help, alongside Rhea of course. I’ll see you later.”

Emily gave a nod of resignation and sighed while she watched Adam walk off towards the bike rack. She just stood there straight as a board as Adam eventually rode off from her view. She found herself still not ready to give up the search. There had to be some reason, this wasn’t like death at all. For one thing, Adam is alive and well so thus he had a right. A right to know the purpose of him having something literally no one else had and can impact the world in a way not preceded before.

How can Adam be completely fine with this? But if he was then, she should be too right? Like anyone else would if they were in her shoes. Yeah, let it go as he seemed to have. But still, she can’t shake off the small urge to look into it herself. At least one of them is fine with it.


	2. Chapter 2

Emily hung up. She was still in the locker room of the boxing gym. Adam had called her to ask for advice regarding his relationship with his internet girlfriend. Internet girlfriend heh, she still wasn’t sure whether to believe he actually had one or not. Still, in either case, she felt glad to know her relationship advice was needed. Made her feel good. What she didn’t count on was a renewed sense of that fluttery lovesick emotion inside her gut. 

It’s been roughly several months since she last seen Adam. And roughly two years since they met. In between those times they have gotten closer and now she considered Adam one of her good friends. Or at least that’s what she kept telling herself. Those butterfly feelings implied something more. She had successfully kept them down for all this time regarding Adam, but she can’t really completely ignore it. 

Adam was cute, he was that cute slightly chubby nerdy friend of hers. Maybe more than just cute? God, why is this all so confusing? She remembered how protective she felt over him when he first told her about his magic. How the fuck dare those idiots high school kids made him feel less than whole. It wasn’t his fault he got the power to completely rewrite history if he wanted to. He didn’t ask for them. 

And that reminded her of how much she missed seeing him, how dare he thought he can pull a Mary Poppins without any consequences. She didn’t want him out of her life forever. She missed going to his special private world as she now had quite a few times. She missed the occasional trip to the past or future as he apparently can do as well (usually they make a point to not interfere, just strictly to visit. She even had to stop him from ruining something twice). Generally, she just missed being with him. 

Damn it, why can’t this lovey-dovey romance movie cliched feelings just stay repressed like it had been since he waltzed off down the road on his bike. Adam was just a really good friend and she is already in love with someone. And married to said someone to boot. Besides this was just one sided anyway, Adam wasn’t interested in her like that. She was fine with that, completely fine. And plus she did not want to entertain the inevitable question of whether or not she married the right guy. She was sure she did.

Just then she was unceremoniously jostled out of her thoughts as her phone vibrated in her hand. She felt the resolve fall down like a ton of bricks when she saw the caller id. It was Adam.

Who the fuck was she kidding, she had feelings for that magical nerd boy. Ugh shit, why did this love shit have to be messy and complicated she wondered. She let out an aggravated sigh, not directed at Adam this time, and conceded herself to the reality of things.

She unlocked her phone and answered, “Hey Adam.”

“Hey, Emily. Thanks for helping me out earlier.”

“You’re welcome. How’d it go?”

“We broke up.”

She felt excitement swell up through her body, “You did?! I mean I’m sorry to hear that.”

Hearing Adam’s voice made things feel right with the world. If only momentarily.

“It’s ok, for the best anyways. I need to think about things,” Adam replied, “I just want to let you know I’m in my private world so if anyone asks, just come up with something.”

“I doubt anyone would except your sister and parents, but I’ll tell them you’re at a weeklong ruiners convention in...I don’t know, Atlanta,” She chuckled softly before it faded into a smile.

Adam lightly laughed in response and Emily can imagine how adorable it’ll look.

“I knew I can count on you, thanks Em!” He sounded pretty grateful and warm too. All the while being happy as ever.

She imagined he grinned that nerdy, but cute grin of his.

Adam hung up and Emily was left with her newfound romance development. Did he even felt the same way about her? Her illogical romance fueled side hoped he did, but her logical objective fueled side was in full force too. That side reminded her that based on previous behaviors, Adam most likely like just saw her as a good friend and confidante. 

She’d also realized that the long-dormant desire to figure out the reasoning behind his magic powers was reawakened. 

__________________

Adam seemed to be right about even this one. Nothing she can think of they probably hadn’t thought of. A search online turned up nothing and the library proved fruitless too. The next free weekend she had, she took advantage of to do her own research. Ruin Adam once again on something. And this time it would be more than beneficial. She hoped that is. Right now she just sat at a random desk feeling more defeated than hopeful. 

She had a couple of books in front of her all about the histories of myths and legends. Her logic was perhaps there was a story in there that was based on someone with similar powers. Probably wouldn’t really lead them anywhere, but it was a start at least. She closed the book in her hand when she spotted a familiar short brown haired woman. She looked like she just came from her public defender job.

“Oh hey, Rhea.”

“Hey Emily, didn’t expect to see you here today, I’m on lunch break,” Rhea said as she took a seat across from her. She looked about relieved to see her.

“I didn’t expect to see you either. I was just umm…..turns out I naively thought I could make headway into getting any new about the ‘family secret’,” Emily admitted as she made the air quotes gesture. 

Luckily it didn’t take too long for Rhea to catch the double meaning there. She didn’t want to actually say it cause there was still a few people around them. Sure no one would probably hear nor care, but she figured she can’t be a little too cautious with something like this. Rhea for her part leaned in closer after a quick check to make sure they were relatively alone.

“Oh right yeah, it’s really hard when you got no leads and you don’t even know where to start. Trust me I’ve tried on my own from time to time. And speaking of which, I’m glad I ran into you sooner than later.”

Rhea dug into the side of her suit jacket and took out a folded piece of paper. She handed it over to Emily to look at. The latter unfolded it and read it. The message was short but enough that it caused a worrying sense of dread.

_“Watch your back Guardian of Harmony”_

“Speaking of family secret, I got that weird note this morning. It just poofed onto my kitchen counter. I got a feeling that was directed to Adam,” Rhea about whispered the last part.

Emily gasped with a short but sharp intake of air, “What?! Who’d you think want to hurt Adam? Well, besides anyone he ever ruined facts for.”

Emily looked over the rest of the paper and there was nothing to indicate who the hell sent it. Crud.

“At any rate, we have a lead at least.” Rhea pointed out. 

The more she thought about it, the more she wasn’t sure if she should take it as a serious threat as she initially did. Still, Emily immediately grabbed her phone to send a text about it to Adam, “I will let him know about this then we go search for Guardian of Whatever online.” 

She honestly wasn’t sure how to take this sorta anti-climatic threat. She felt like she shouldn’t worry too much. Come on who seriously wanted to cause Adam harm. At the same time however, despite the logical part of her mind, her heart skipped a beat in horror and felt protective of him again. If this was some kind of a cruel joke, she’ll probably end up in jail a second time.

“Good idea.” 

As annoying and grating on her nerves he is, she didn’t want anything to happen to her older brother. Rhea isn’t afraid to knock someone down if they meant Adam any true harm. But at the same time, she had trouble believing someone would. 

Emily put her phone away in her purse as the two got up to head towards the one open computer. Midway through a brief flash of light blue light appeared out of thin air and engulfed the two. 

If anyone else witnessed it the second it happened or had noticed them earlier, it was like they were never there the next. If anyone tried to remember the two woman that mysteriously disappeared, it would’ve been in vain. No one remembered long enough to alert someone in charge or to call the police. Were they really here before or not? Could be dreaming things. Hard to act on something if the whole event was hard to imagine. Was it really that important then? Must be, might as well not think on it too hard. Get onto more important priorities in life.


	3. Chapter 3

“....and that is wrong, and so is this….oh that is definitely wrong!” Adam laughed merrily to himself. He smiled as he edited incorrect information in a Word Document. 

He planned to post this corrected version onto his blog, aptly titled ‘Adam Ruins Encyclopedias’. His blog may not have the most readers out there, but he was doing good damn it. The public must be informed of this false fact perpetrated by educational books of yesteryear! 

He was still in his private world. He aimed to go back to the real world sooner than later, but then that meant he had to face finding a new place to leave. Why bother with that now when there are facts to correct! Like in the 12th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica he downloaded on his computer for instance.

He kept going on, engrossed in his quest to make the world a better place. Or at least his idea of making a world a better place. Even if most people don’t seem to readily take in the harsh truth of their misinformed reality. Ten minutes later he noticed his phone light up out of the corner of his eye. It was a text from Emily. A pleasant feeling filled the air, deep down a part of him wished he asked her to join him here.

But he knew that wouldn’t really be fair, she had her own life, a husband and a job on Earth. He can’t force her to come along with him whenever he was down and wanting to be alone. He considered her his best friend, and if there is one thing they can say about him without any hint of annoyance, its that he is a very good and respectful person to anyone he cared about.

Still, that didn’t keep him from wishing. He had been doing a lot of thinking up here, about his future and his relationship. He realized breaking up with Melinda was for the best, he wouldn’t be happy spending the rest of his life with him. And to make this all the more complicated, his mind shifted to Emily as to whom he would be the happiest with. The problem was she is happily married, or so it seemed at least. And he wasn’t sure she would go for an admittedly nerdy guy like him otherwise. 

It felt like some stupid cliche from various media on the subject of romance, but it was true nonetheless. He started to feel he went the wrong route, maybe he was meant to be with Emily. His heart fluttered at the thought of spending his life with her.

Eager to read the message he picked up his phone and unlocked it. However, when he saw the message his happy grin turned to that of confused uncertainty. It sounded important and intriguing enough. The text explained how his sister got a weird message and the whole Guardian of Harmony thing. Huh, that was a prestigious title, whoever that was for must’ve deserved that title. The guess that it was meant for him was wrong. Oh goodie! That means another thing to ruin for Emily. It simply can’t be for him. Just can’t! 

It was just objective fact really, he was like every other human being (aside from the magic). Just a lifelong ruiner who had turtles for pets and watches educational shows like Nova. On the other hand, this could lead to finally understanding why the hell he had these powers in the first place. With that in mind, he elected to relegate the editing to later and deal with this.

With a quick snap, he was at the library.

_________________________

Instead of their intended location, the two quickly noticed they weren’t exactly in Kansas anymore figuratively speaking. They were in the library one second, the next they were in what looked like a huge expensive mansion from Beverly Hills. Specifically the living room. The inside was luxurious to say the least. Bright too, the interior was all in a bright and modern style. Expensive paintings, both modern and classical, adorned the walls. There were also artifacts on shelves that looked like they more belonged in a museum.

And the living room itself was spacious, and the floor around the area dipped down a bit. And there was a modern styled bar off to the side. Rhea had walked a bit to take a peak towards the entranceway. It might as well be classified as a foyer, a small one. There was a half spiral staircase leading upstairs.

“Holy fucking shit.” Rhea softly exclaimed. Emily had followed her over equally as speechless. 

Emily felt her heart beat faster as the situation started to slowly hit her. They were kidnapped via teleportations to god knows where and Adam obviously didn’t she nervously looked around. They were obviously teleported, how else can anyone explain a sudden change in location. She started to get a bad feeling that one of two things happened. Abduction by alien or, most likely, someone else had the same kind of magic as Adam. 

“Ok, where the hell are we?” Emily asked as she took notice of a big screen tv over a fireplace. 

Keep cool, keep calm. Take a deep breath Emily, take a nice deep breath. It would be for the best to remain calm under pressure. It was all for naught as she yelped at the first sound of footsteps. How the hell is Rhea is staying so calm next to her. She too turned just as quickly towards the hallway on the other side of the room that led deeper into the mansion.

Oh wait, she’s a public defender, that’s probably how she is calm and collected at the moment. She probably had more experience being under stress than she had. Thus she had an idea of what to do. But she also doesn’t want to presume things, different situation and all. 

The sounds got louder and before too long a man stepped out into view. His hands were clasped behind his back. He had long jet black hair (long enough to go past his shoulders) with a matching beard. He looked like he had an average, but lean build. As he got closer to them, it was apparent this...kidnapper was at least as tall as Rhea. And look liked he was in his mid-30s to boot. Brought up a good question, why do all the bad boys have to be on the attractive side again?

The man put on a smile as he made a semi-dramatic bow in front of Emily and Rhea. Emily seemed to be the only one not dressed like she was going to some black-tie gala.

“Greetings! Sorry for the slight delay ladies, I had to check on something with one of my computers. You may call me Cupun.”

“And you must the fucker that teleported us here!” Rhea dryly shot out.

Cupun chuckled which turned into a shrewd grin, not affected and obviously proud of his successful plan. If teleporting Rhea and Emily was his plan or part of it. His voice still had a light casual air to it despite the underlying cool tone underneath. 

“You must be Rhea and therefore you...” Cupun pointed to Rhea then moved his finger over to Emily, “Must be Emily.”

“How the hell do you know our names?” Emily replied.

The other man smiled and gave her a look as if the answer was criminally obvious.

“Simple. I watched Adam Ruins Everything ever since it began,” He moved to look at both Emily and Rhea, “In fact, that’s how I discovered he is the latest Guardian of Harmony! To be frank, I’m honestly surprised an abrasive socially inept idiot is the latest version.”

“Watch it. Adam is still my brother,” Rhea steadily warned.

A light bulb went off inside Emily’s mind, “You’re the one that sent that message earlier didn’t you?”

Cupun had his hands in his slack pockets, “Yep. It was indeed. Probably was slightly anticlimactic now that I think about it.”

There was a bit of silence while Cupun thought on things for a second before he dismissed them away and continued on. Rhea had her arms crossed by now while Emily kinda agreed with the anticlimactic part. Most importantly she was just very glad she didn’t have to deal with her kidnapper all alone. 

“Anyways not important. What is important is that I shall have to clue you both in on what all this Guardian shit is about.”

“That’ll be nice,” Emily said point blank.

“Right. Adam is the Guardian of Harmony as you two probably deduced by now. I, on the other hand, am the Guardian of Anarchy! Chaos! May-” He waved his arms up with a grandiose flare at the same time he was interrupted.

“We get it, we get it,” Emily hastily cut him off. Cupun looked at her and merely put his arms down and composed himself. He looked a little embarrassed. 

He cleared his throat, “Sorry. Got a little carried away.”

“How do you what Adam is? We’ve been looking for clues all our lives and always came up short,” Rhea asked.

Cupun sported a satisfied smirk, “Oh that you have me to thank. Do you two lovely ladies like to hear my diabolical plan over a glass of wine?” He motioned over to the bar.

Emily was a bit taken aback, unsure what to say at first. Usually, you don’t expect kidnappers to offer you a drink. She and Rhea looked at each other for a second then back at Cupun.

Rhea replied, “Uhh sure I guess.”

Cupun proceeded to lead Rhea and Emily over to the bar, all the while began to explain with an irritating sort of smugness.

“My plan was simple, short and sweet. It wasn’t convoluted at all actually unlike what you might see in the movies or...I don’t know Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes novels.”

“Oh, I would’ve guessed otherwise. I was preparing myself for a long monotonous monologue.” Emily lightly retorted.

“You watch too many movies. Trust me a short and simple plan is easier to implement. And I must say it’s already been a success!”

Emily and Rhea froze in their tracks having tensed up with a sense of fear. Cupun looked at them with a smile of a job well done. Meanwhile, while Emily was speechless and her mind blank with only a sense of horror, Rhea balled her fists and mentally took several breaths to stay calm. It would not do her or Emily any good to lose her cool. Here was someone else who obviously must have the same thing Adam has. Which means he could easily teleport them somewhere, and it was already going to be hard enough for Adam to rescue them. Or finding him whichever was the most doable.

“What the hell do you mean by that!?”

“What I said already. The moment I saw you two... _lovely_ ladies here I knew right then that it worked!” He laughed gleefully before he continued, “I erased your existence from Earth. Genius really. Adam is the only one that still remembers you two...”

Cupun snapped his fingers in the direction of the tv and it turned on. The screen revealed Adam to be in what would be accurately be described as panic mode. He sat against a tree in a secluded area of a park trying to calm himself down via breathing into a paper bag in short intervals. 

He continued on, “I could’ve simply done one better and snap you two out entirely but then that won’t be as much fun wouldn’t it. I wanted you to witness Adam’s despair, knowing there ain’t anything you two can possibly do to get out of this merciless situation.”

“Adam!” Emily cried out in a high pitched but emotional voice before she ran over to the screen.


	4. Chapter 4

It pained her to see him upset, it metaphorically stabbed her several times over in her gut. And oh that’s new, she felt hopeless at what to even do in this situation. Adam not knowing anything about his powers just made this more of a harrowing situation. She and Rhea didn’t know how long it’ll take before Adam connected the dots. Soon right? It wouldn’t do them any good to lose all hope of a rescue. Adam will come shortly, rescue them and fix reality. 

Yeah, perhaps this isn’t as dire as that Cupun guy implied it to be. Everything will be back to normal before they knew it. 

Meanwhile, Rhea covered her right ear and scrunched her eyes for a second while rapid footsteps fade off from the left behind her. 

“Oww geez….” She muttered with fleeting annoyance to herself.

She didn’t bother to look at the screen, instead opted to send ice cold daggers Cupun’s way with her narrowed glare. He took as an invitation to keep going.

“You know what else I’ve done? Do you ever wonder why your brother can never find anything about his powers? Why he had to discover them on his own? This is all rhetorical by the way....” He quickly added before he got to the point, “Well you have me to thank for that too. You see there would be an older person, an elder Guardian that would be in charge of finding the next. Said latest version would then be put through rigorous training before they are set off into the world. This was how it was done for thousands and thousands of years! For both the Harmony and Chaos Guardians.”

Rhea wasn’t sure what the hell to think. All she knew right now, is that her blood started to boil with righteous anger. All she can think right now is the years of searching that went nowhere. The years of complete helplessness they felt about how to help her younger brother deal with them. She never told Adam, but she always got the feeling their parents wished he didn’t have them. Less stress on them she always reckoned. And they had good intentions. Looking out for his benefit and wanting him to be successful in life, but ultimately, subconscious or not, they were also driven by how he would be looked upon as in public. 

After all the message he gotten repeatedly told in life was to forget the magic for society’s sake. 

She was surprised at how much resolve she had to not immediately lash out at the man before her. That is for the time being. She wanted to throw him out the window behind him.

“And what exactly does this Guardian thing mean exactly?”

“Do you know the concept of yin and yang? Good vs evil?”

Rhea crossed her arms and didn’t say anything. A brief awkward silence for Cupun followed. Meanwhile, on the screen, Adam drove into the driveway of what Emily recognized as her house. He still looked just as shaken up as earlier, probably even more by now. She could yell at the screen all she wanted, had the greatest urge too. But she knew it’ll be proved to be dumb and silly. As if Adam would be able to hear her through the screen. She hated this helpless feeling. 

“I’ll take that as a yes. The Guardian of Harmony is the embodiment of all that is good in the world. Every generation has one person chosen to be the vessel. Therefore they are supposed to protect humankind from the likes of what I embodied. Adam was chosen to be the next responsible to keep everything balanced. Move the world towards a better future and all that crap.”

Rhea strived to keep her voice even despite the anger and exasperation she felt, “So why hasn’t my brother been told about this in the first place?”

“Because I got to the old previous Guardian just in time to repressed his memory and skills. He passed away without regaining the memories in time, therefore, the next one is out of the loop. Thus I am free to sow the seeds of chaos as freely as I want.”

“You fucking bastard!”

It was absolutely infuriating how Cupun can stand there in ‘professor giving a lecture’ mode and be condescending at the same time.

He smiled and didn’t show an ounce of emotion to her reply, “Thank you. You know my primary motivation was revenge. Still is, but this makes it so much easier for my secondary motive to be put into motion. See I wish to the rule the world in an era of chaos and discord for all eternity!”

Rhea rolled her eyes and quipped, “That’s original.”

“Shut up.”

“Wait hold on a minute, did you say your main motivation was revenge? What do you got against Adam? He doesn’t know you exist.”

“Nothing against him specifically but oh I very much got something against a previous Guardian. Would you like me to tell you about it?”

Oh god Rhea thought, she started to feel her temples throb with a dull ache, but she didn’t even move a hand to rub her temple. Why does she feel like they are in a bad adventure movie? Or something from Disney. If this Coupon guy hoped to be so damn impressive and completely shower with fear well she didn’t budge. He’ll have to do better than recite some diatribe he has obviously been practicing in front of the mirror.

“So this takes place back in oh...around 1027 AD in ancient Alaska-“

“You’re….immortal?”

“Yeah. That’s one of the many perks of being able to bend reality to your whim Ms. Conover. Anyways I’ll keep this succinct as to not bore you with the gritty details. See there was this ancient Guardian of Harmony named Desna. He and I were from the same tribe, in fact, we were cousins. Well, he didn’t like the idea of our tribe becoming a vast Empire. However, during that process, he decided to twist the knife in further by stealing the girl of my dreams! Me and Eska were supposed to be married but instead, she ran off with him!”

Rhea was about to make her retort when something from the screen caught her eye. It was Adam on the couch of what should’ve been Emily and Murph’s house. But because of the erasure of their existence, Murph appeared to be married to Melinda, Adam’s ex Internet girlfriend. Adam appeared to have had hyperventilated and fainted on the couch. He still breathed into that paper bag of his.

This really didn’t help to remind both her and Emily that the life that they had were really gone in a sensed back. Plus for Emily, in a strange sort of way, she felt a pang of mild jealousy and a sort of pain that he seemed to be so happy with someone other her. She also wished she was there physically so bad so she can help him too. Tell him that she was alright, she and his sister were just kidnapped by some wackjob.

But then those lovely feelings she had for Adam came back at full force. She realized this way she didn’t have to worry about divorce and all the messy parts. Murph didn’t deserve that at all, he was a nice enough and sweet. And definitely wasn’t his fault that she developed feelings for Adam unexpectedly. They were both really sweet, kind-hearted guys, but there was something about Adam that made her start to seriously wonder if she had gone after the wrong guy. 

Definitely wasn’t the powers aspect, that’ll be stupid to go after him just because he can do whatever the hell he wanted with them. It was just a bonus really, that trip to 2070’s Las Vegas, for one thing, was very fun and interesting to say the lease. Maybe it was the fact that despite having them, he hadn’t become corrupted by them. If anything it just ended up being more of a burden for him. She still wasn’t sure she believed him wholly when he’d said he was fine not knowing why he had them in the first place all those years ago. 

She always had a feeling somewhere in her that Adam wasn’t fine about it. That he just told himself that he was and eventually he believed his own lie. 

It was very admirable that someone like him resisted the urge to overuse them just cause it would make things easier and more convenient. If anything, the only time he might “overused” them was during his show, and even then it wasn’t in a malicious way. It was to simply aid him in his mission of ruining everything. Powers or no powers, there was something to the nerdy and gentlemanly charm that is Adam Conover.

Not that Murph wasn’t a gentleman by any means, he was and can be just as sweet as Adam. But lately looking back her life had ended up stuck in a rut. Not career-wise, she still liked being a high school teacher. Plus compared to Adam, Murph just seemed to be too content with following the grain of society. Never looking beyond face value from the media and society in general. Never looking into the nitty and gritty detailed truth like Adam has. All too happy to follow tradition and do things simply cause society told him to do.

Put simply Adam was more of a rebel to society compared to him. Albeit a nerdy one, but one nonetheless. Not afraid to buck the trends and do his own thing in his own way.

And they had been a rut for a while too. Not career wise by any means, she still liked being a high school teacher. It was more social and financial wise. One, they just both seemed to be living in their worlds. Doing stuff with their own friends and focused on their own things as if they were merely roommates who happened to share one bed. Two, outside of bills and necessities they don't exactly have a whole lot of spare money. Murph had spent all of his life savings on her engagement ring. So that meant they were mostly living paycheck by paycheck. They've long ago relegated Emily's life savings to emergency money and the occasional vacation. And even then they don't go on too many expensive vacations.

She can count on one hand the number of times she and Murph went on some kind of vacation.

Oh, they were still very much cordial and friendly to each other, they would never hurt each other intentionally. It just felt like the love part of it had faded down since their wedding somewhat. To the point where they both weren’t sure what their relationship status is even though it was clear they still cared for each other.

She was also aware that all those excursions with Adam probably spoiled her to some degree. Can’t deny that. And even Adam admitted the same for him. He just preferred not to use them for anything but educational purposes (and anything minor and harmless in the privacy of his home).

A burst of hearty laughter rang through the air and Emily broke her off the screen and turned around to see Cupun rife with a kind of cruel joy. Rhea looked close to plummeting him to next year. But still stayed amazingly calm, though Emily knew her well enough that right now, she seethed with rage underneath her cool demeanor.

“Oh, I still can’t believe I hit a gold mind here hahaha! This was not my doing at all, I can’t obviously influence who’ll be the next Guardian and vice versa. So the latest version being a sniveling overgrown baby is just icing on the cake!” He explained joyously in between bouts of laughter. 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he still wets his bed and cries for his mommy to make his boo-boo feel all better,” He put on a childlike voice to further mock Adam which just further Rhea’s ire for him. Nobody fucking makes fun of Adam except for her.

Cupun erupted in more laughter a split second before Rhea full tackled him at full charge down to the ground. They rolled over and Rhea managed to get on top of him before she started to punch him.

“Only I’m allowed to make fun of my brother like that you asshole!” Rhea shouted.

A split second later as Rhea began her next punch, Cupun snapped his fingers and they dematerialized into thin air.

“Rhea!” Emily shouted as she ran over to the spot being the living room area.

Emily stared at the empty area where Rhea was a second ago. That was the hay that broke the camel’s back for Rhea, she didn’t blame her. It’s different when family members poke fun at each other like that as oppose to complete strangers. The screen was still going on in the background and now nothing more than background noise. Where did that bastard could’ve taken Rhea to?! She didn’t know what to do. The quiet in the mansion aside from the tv was deafening. She was at a loss as to what’s the next action to take. 

“Ok keep calm Emily, take a deep breath and don’t freak out. You may be alone in some creepy guy’s mansion and don’t exist anymore on Earth, but you got this,” Emily told herself.


	5. Chapter 5

She wasn’t sure if it was working all that well cause she still felt very much freaked out. Despite that, she repeated it over and over as she tried to figure out something. She looked back at the screen which now showed Adam in his car. He didn’t look so good still, he had his head in his arms on the steering wheel. And it was hard to tell if he was crying or not cause of the downpour around him. She wanted nothing more than to be there and comfort him. By force of habit she reached into her purse and grabbed her phone.

Wait. Her phone! Maybe she can try and contact Adam. Yes, what a brilliant idea and if this worked then Adam can use his powers to get here via her phone. She felt a surge of hope wash through her body. What a clever idea, how did she not realized this sooner. Maybe it was for the best in highsight cause otherwise Cupun might’ve found out and poofed it away or useless in some cruel fashion.

With that, she quickly dialed his number and looked at the screen after she hit send. After an agonizing few seconds which felt like an eternity, Adam noticed his phone and picked it up. Her hope level was higher than before that things would be alright at the end. Gotta be optimistic in a situation like this. 

It made her current world less bleak when she heard Adam’s voice that came from the other end. 

“Emily?! Emily is it really you?! Please tell me you and Rhea are alright? I’m scared Em, I’m feeling pretty scared right now. People are acting like they never met either one of you! It doesn’t make any sense-”

“Adam! Oh my god, I’m so happy to hear your voice right now! Listen it’s gonna be alright...it’s gonna be alright, everything will be fine...I hope,” She began before she took a quick calming breath, “Me and Rhea were kidnapped by this guy name Cupun to this mansion of his and he apparently got magic powers like you do. That’s how he was able to change reality back on Earth. Please tell me you can get yourself over here? I know you probably can but I’m slightly more than freaking out right now.”

“I can just point the phone away from you.” 

“Sure thing.”

She pointed the screen away as she took a glance at the tv. She watched Adam look at the screen of his phone before he snapped his fingers. A few seconds later she felt her phone warm up lightly with the energy of magic. Blue light emitted from the screen, followed by Adam who materialized a couple of feet away.

Upon seeing Emily there seemed to be a switch in terms of his mood. His bubbly, slightly goofy smile stretched across his face and the world seemed to brighten up if only temporary. It was as if Adam was reunited with a long lost lover. Actually, make that both of them. Emily felt overjoyed to see him right in front of her, purple suit and all, instead of on the tv.

“Emily!”

Adam rushed at her with his arms held open and swung her up around in a big bear hug. He was so happy, no wrong word, ecstatic very ecstatic. So much so that he didn’t realize he planted one on her lips in a love-induced haze after he put Emily back down on her feet. One arm was around her waist and the other hand on the base of her neck.

Emily felt herself blush wildly at the unexpected kiss. Did the temperature rise up? The warm and fuzzy emotions overtook her and shorted her brain out. This is what she wanted, what her heart desired. No denying or use trying to forget the truth. Damn it Adam had to go and ruin her long self held reasonable belief that he had any feelings for her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and melted into the kiss. Nothing else mattered except her, Adam and a passionate kiss.

And a few seconds later it ended. A good part of Emily was disappointed that it was over. Adam looked at her embarrassed and very, very apologetic. His very red cheeks can attest to that. Like if he was a kid who just got caught in a lie by his parents.

“Oh my god Emily I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t kiss you without asking first,...I don’t know what I was thinking except I’m just very happy to see you and I thought I was never gonna see you guys again!”

Emily grasped his hands into her and gave him a warm, sweet smile. Might as well be out with it since was clear they were on the same page. Or at least as far as her observational skills can tell her. No more running away from the truth of the matter. She was in love with Adam.

“Adam it’s ok! It’s alright. I umm….I, I liked it, I enjoyed it...a lot,” Emily lightly chuckled before faded off into the night.

She felt like some giddy lovesick character in some cheesy 90s romance movie.

Adam looked at her dumbfounded, his mind was blank except for the parts that processed this game-changing new information. And unlike any other misconceptions he had that Emily ruined for him in the past (read: the time Emily ruined his glasses), this time he was very happy to be proven wrong.

“Really?” Adam replied and a soft but giddy laugh escaped his throat, “Me too!”

Emily smiled, but quickly came out of the love hazed fog.

“We should probably talk more about that later. We need to rescue your sister and stop that...Cubone guy.”

“Oh right, yeah. Umm….” Adam looked around, he wasn’t actually sure what to do first.

He looked at a random spot before he turned back to Emily awkwardly and admitted, “This is all new to me Em, this is the first time I’m hearing of someone else with the same magic as me. I don’t have any knowledge on what to do,” Adam was noticeably freaked out and unsure of what to expect.

Except a crazy guy with magic who got his sister, that he knew so far. He better not hurt her.

“Well, I’m in the same boat as you. Let’s do what I do and take it bit by bit. Preferably fast so we can save Rhea.”

“Of course. What exactly happened after you two were kidnapped?” Adam asked. Research was always good as ever to start off with.

“He was pretty quick to tell us about his ‘amazing diabolic plan’,” Emily rolled her eyes for emphasis before she apologized, “I only caught the part where he erased me and Rhea from existence on Earth. I was too busy watching you on the tv to hear him monologuing to Rhea.”

“Well that ain’t a problem, we can still find out the rest, “ Adam assured her confidently.

He gently held her close and moved them back away a few steps before he snapped his fingers. The time rewinded enough to just after Emily ran into the living room. Currently, it was frozen so Adam can get to a relevant starting point.

“Wait won’t they hear or see us?”

“Not to worry Em, they can’t hear or see us. It’s like that night at the restaurant when I did one of my older episodes!”

Oh right damn it. She had forgotten about the time Adam ruined her girls night out. Funny that seemed a lifetime ago when Hayley was alive and she didn’t know Adam as well as in the present day. Back when she didn’t realize the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with was actually the one next to her.

Emily watched the scene play out, she wanted to catch all the important details. She felt bad that she just wasn’t able to summarize it for Adam. Plus this way he can also see just what Cupun looked like, so now he would have a visual on who to look for. So that part was good at least. Still she couldn’t help the feeling if only cause she didn’t pay attention the first time around.

After it ended she looked up at Adam. He had an indiscernible blank look on his face for a few seconds, she couldn’t make out what he might be thinking. It was a lot to take it in so it’s possible he was overwhelmed by the information. She wanted to ask if he wanted to sit down for a minute, it would do both of them good actually, but they were on precious time. 

To be frank, Adam didn’t know where exactly to start in response to that. So he was the reason behind him being completely in the dark about his magic? He decided not to dwell on that just yet. Plus there was the whole matter of Cupun teleported himself with Rhea.

After an anxious few seconds, Adam broke the silence with a nervous chuckle. His face turned an unusually bright but clearly naive expression. It was also evidence of how much things had changed that she found that aspect of him hadn’t annoyed her as it might’ve in the past.

“You know maybe if I talk to him very nicely about this, we can avoid any actual violence. I do know how to de-escalate a situation like this.” 

“I really don’t think that’s gonna work,” Emily gave him an honest look before he was able to spout any facts. She had a bad feeling about this, “We’re talking about an insane jilted immortal magical dude here.”

“Maybe he’ll still be reasonable?” Another nervous chuckle. 

A few seconds of silence passed, it was obvious Emily didn’t go for his suggestions. Just gave him a look. Adam conceded her point with a sigh of resignation. This wasn’t going to be any Kumbaya, “let’s talk away our differences and be friends” idealist type shit. If only, but they weren’t in a perfect world. 

“Right,” Adam said before he took a calm breath.


	6. Chapter 6

He produced a ball of blue energy around his hand a second later and waved it around in a circle. A portal full of the same blue energy formed in front of them, and without much ado, Adam and Emily walked through it. On the other side they found themselves inside another mansion. Only instead of being bright and welcoming, it was dark and gloomy. It was all dark wood paneling and dark/muted colored walls. 

There was a sense of foreboding in the atmosphere. It was enough for Adam to cling a little closer behind Emily. He gripped her shoulders like a frighten little boy. In the past Emily would’ve rolled her eyes and told him there is nothing to be afraid of. But here, she wasn’t sure what to expect. It was the unknown factor of all this, she knew about as much as Adam did. They were both unsure of what to expect from a mansion like this. There could be booby traps and whatnot in ever room and corridor of this vast place.

She could’ve been watching too many movies, but the truth of it that is what she and Adam have to go off on for right now. It was like this mansion was designed to have the creepy factor permeated from every inch of this place. 

Emily can hear the sound of her own heart thumping inside her chest as she looked around. Nothing else made a sound around them. It was dead quiet, like nothing happened here in years and years. It added to the sense of danger in the atmosphere, like something gonna happen if they don’t be careful.

“This place gets my vote for creepiest mansion of the year,” Emily commented softly.

“We should probably assume he’s watching us too,” Adam replied after a quick glance around. 

What’s to prove he is or isn’t, except the fact about the tv screen thing earlier. Likely meant Emily saw the part with the alternative marriage between Murph and Melinda then. Still, that didn’t stop the vibe from sending shivers up their spines.

Emily agreed, “Yeah. It does feel like he is now that you mentioned it.”

The two slowly made their way from the entranceway over to the large wooden staircase to the side. There was a dark maroon carpet that covered the steps up to the second floor. And in front of the staircase was the doorway to the kitchen and dining room. Emily peeked inside, somewhat hoping to find Rhea there. 

All was quiet. Shit of course what was she expecting, Rhea at the table with something she made to eat? She turned her head around to look in the direction of the living room which was also much of the same. Empty and devoid of any sign of anyone else. This doesn’t seem to bode well to the hope that they are gonna find her soon.

“Hey Adam?” She felt some trepidation in asking this but she felt like it needed to be brought up.

“Yeah Em.”

“Are you even sure Rhea is here?....I mean I’m not hearing or seeing any sign of her so far.”

“She should be...hopefully. That portal was supposed to take us to where that guy took her.”

Just after Adam’s response, a loud audible creak was heard towards the ceiling. It send them both off guard. Moreso Adam than Emily who reeled back a few steps.

“Ahh mommy!” Adam blurted out while Emily just felt her breath hitched up as they both looked up towards the ceiling.

“It’s alright Adam, probably just a rat. Or something equally just as gross,” Emily’s voice trailed off before she started to walk up the stairs.

“Yeah…” He could rattle off a few facts about bugs in homes in general, but even he got the feeling now wasn’t exactly the best time. 

Plus he was too high alert to even think of a suitable tidbit to tell Emily. So instead he just followed Emily up the stairs. The only sounds were the steps slightly creaking under both of their weights. Once they got to the top they noticed a long corridor in front of them. The longest they’ve seen. Grand decorations adorned the walls and floor, paintings of a time long past hung on the wall on both sides. But the atmosphere hadn’t changed much, even the chandelier lights looked musty and burnt out. Exact same gloomy, depressive vibe as the rest of the house. Devoid of life. There wasn’t even any evidence of any sunlight coming from any windows. And the reason was made clear a second later, there didn’t even seem to be any rooms.

Except for one. And it was at the tail end of the hallway in front of them.

“Why am I having a bad feeling Cupun could’ve tied Rhea up in that room?” Emily admitted as she looked around.

Adam tensed up with worriedness, “I hope not.”

The two started to walk at a cautious pace, Emily had decided to hold onto Adam’s arm as she checked out the paintings. In any other environment, they both would’ve stopped to look and admire some of the Renaissance-esque paintings for a brief second, but these ones just added to the atmosphere. None of them creepily moved or anything like they were being watched. They were just run of the mill artwork that didn’t make this place any more cheery. 

“I kinda half expected the guy to go a little over the top,” Emily gestured to the paintings, “Have the eyes move or whatever.”

“Ooh like in Harry Potter! I’ve read the books and seen the movies. Hmm I wonder what House we would be in?”

“Cupun would probably be a Slytherin,” Emily pointed out with a casual laugh. 

Talking seemed to do both of them good, it was an apt enough distraction from the atmosphere of this mansion. Adam pondered on the thought for a second before he replied.

“Haha yeah he would be,” There was a brief moment of silence before Adam began again. This time in a sober, but calm voice, “You know, I used to fantasize as a kid about finally meeting someone who had the same kinda...deal I had. Or at least someone to explain them to me.”

Emily looked up at him as they kept up their pace, “That makes sense. Sucks you had to find out through all this.”

“Yeah, this sucks for you and Rhea too. There wasn’t any kidnapping shit or anything in those fantasies. It was more of a playdate-”

“Playdate?...”

“Sorry, a nice meeting over lunch or something,” Adam quickly corrected himself. 

Damn it. How did he get this bad with socialization that he still jump right into using more childish terms to mean something? He was a big boy, an adult. He shouldn’t be using something a five-year-old would say if he wanted to get any friends. He has gotten that cue plenty of times. Mostly from the two people he cared about the most in his life.

“I get what you mean.”

“Finding out the reason this way is fucked up to put it lightly.”

Emily nodded in agreement, “Surprised the walls haven’t started bleeding yet either.”

She let out a weak chuckle and worriedly looked at the walls as if blood was about to gush out at any second. But of course they didn’t and she felt a bit silly for getting a little over worried. Probably understandable the voice inside her told her. 

Not before too long, they finally reached the door at the end. It was unassuming and yet ominous at the same time. Both Adam and Emily stared at it and hesitatingly glanced at each other. Too unsure of what they’ll find on the other side and it didn’t help that there weren’t any telltale signs of anyone on the other side. No yell for help, nobody to open the door. Nothing. It just drove to raise their suspicions that Cupun left something horrible for them on the other side. 

In the end, it was Adam who slowly reached for the metal knob. He opened it cautiously and peeked in before he opens the door all the way open. He took a step in with Emily right behind him.

“Sissy?”

There was something that slightly amused Emily that Adam still used that more childlike nickname for Rhea in a situation like this. Like he was a scared child rather than a man. She wisely kept it to herself. It was very clear the word still carried a sibling love kind of intonation. Plus she would feel like an asshole to correct Adam on age appropriate terms right now. 

The room itself was strangely bared. Just walls, floors and a wooden framed window on the other side. Nothing else except for a wooden table in the middle with a doll on top. And it wasn’t that creepy to begin with. It was kinda anticlimactic in a way? Emily wasn’t sure, dolls can certainly be creepy, but this one didn’t seem to be threatening in any shape or form.

“If this is Cupun‘s idea to scare the shit out of me then it’s not working,” Emily lightly teased as she gestured at the doll.

Adam softly chuckled, “Yeah, you would expect it to be alive or possessed haha.”

The two fell into silence as they continued to stare. Something felt off about it the more they stared at it. They took a couple of steps closer and noticed how it was standing up exactly. It was on a little wooden stand.

Emily continued to go up to the edge of the table while Adam got distracted by what laid outside of the window. There was no indication of this mansion being anywhere on Earth or somewhere tangible. Instead it reminded him of when he took Emily and Murph through an alternative timestream. That is to say, it was nothing but a swirling mass of various shades of green. Just sans clocks. 

“Adam...” 

There was a note of muted horror and dread in her voice. 

“You remember what your sister wore right?”

“Yeah why?” Adam glanced at her as he walked up to stand next to her.

“I think we found her.”

Adam looked at the doll more closely and felt his blood turn ice cold. The little unassuming doll appeared to have taken the appearance of Rhea. Short brown hair, same blue suit just in a more wooden form. It was clear as day that that bastard transformed Rhea. And all this just because he got jealousy issues over a previous Guardian. At that moment, Adam felt knew no other emotional but ire and rage that surged throughout his body towards the person that was responsible for this. 

The same bastard who was the reason he always felt less than human because of these superhuman powers. The same bastard who was one of the major reasons he had trouble connecting with other people growing up. Adam closed his eyes and clenched his fists tight enough to feel a dull pain. This was new, it was rare he felt truly pissed off, but this, this was unprecedented. Every fiber of him teamed with increased energy mixed with adrenaline.

How dare this guy used his powers on someone he cared about. 

Emily noticed both of his fists glowed with the now familiar blue energy. It formed into a ball around his hands. She didn’t really know what was going on. She was concerned for him and confused, especially when he opened his eyes and the entire eye was a shade of blue, not just the irises as usual.


	7. Chapter 7

The sight of seeing Adam all powered up like this resulted in her body sending an inappropriate wave of warm fuzziness up her spine. Damn it, why now of all times must her body make an announcement of a new thing that aroused her. 

At that moment Cupun took the time to make his arrival. He materialized at the doorway and Emily caught sight of him as soon as she saw the telltale blue streak of energy. She immediately moved closer to Adam, though she wasn’t entirely sure what was going on with Adam. Is he still in control of himself in this state? Had to be if he didn’t immediately lashed out, just stood calmly in place.

“Oh hello Adam so we finally meet huh? The famed nerd boy with an over obsession for facts! Hello Emily,” Cupun sported a facetious sweet smile “I see you both discovered what I had to do to your precious sister. She kept slandering me with untrue name and statements. Had quite the sailor mouth.”

Emily rolled her eyes at him and retorted, “Wonder why?”

“She wouldn’t even stop threatening me with bodily harm!”

“Honestly I would take a swing at you if it weren’t for your magic!” Emily shot back with a sharp bite to it.

“Smart. Gotta give you credit for that at least.” Cupun conceded.

Adam decided to pick that moment to make his move. He turned around and suddenly blasted Cupun into the hallway with a force of blue energy. It startled both Emily and Cupun for different reasons. More so Cupun, as apparently he sorely didn’t expect that. Which made sense since he seemed to have underestimated Adam. At least from casual observation. He looked about stunned and about knocked out cold from what Emily could tell.

“Holy crow…” Emily exclaimed to herself.

It was almost too quick of a motion. After Adam moved forwards a couple of steps toward the doorway, he snapped his fingers. All of a sudden everything around them changed. This time it was a non creepy house. In fact it looked lived in, she got a feeling this was Adam’s temporary home away from Earth. The only thing is Adam himself wasn’t here. But she wasn’t alone by any means however as she heard a soft groan.

Rhea was back to normal! Adam must’ve done a twofer, changed Rhea back to her given form and send them off to safety. Shit that means Adam still back there with that crazy guy.

Emily grinned happily as she sat on the sofa next to her and gave her a quick hug, “Rhea! Are you alright?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Rhea rubbed her hands over her face and through her hair. She looked down and saw she still had on her work clothes, ”I think I want to change out of this and lay down.”

“I don’t blame you. Nobody wants to be changed into a doll like that. Are you sure you’re ok? I don’t know any side effects of being a creepy doll for however long you were.”

Rhea stood up and gave her a reassuring smile, “I’m fine, if anything I just feel a little stiff. I feel like I need a damn break from all this magic for a short while.”

“I think we all do,” Emily lightly chuckled. Probably even Adam would want a break as well she reckoned.

Rhea ended up taking off the suit jacket before she laid on her side on the sofa, the bed idea forgotten. She can't help but still remember recent events, it proved to still be a lot to process. Enough to not be sure whether she wanted to admit deep down she was freaked out enough by it. Plus her brother was still back there duking it out with Cupun, she was also very worried about her brother’s safety. 

“I was still conscious back there,” She started softly but casually.

Emily had offered to go get something for them to drink but this caught her attention. She also saw that Rhea looked ahead almost as if she was in a trance. She hopes being transformed hadn’t messed up her psyche too bad.

“I was still able to see and hear everything. I want to punch that motherfucker for that so bad for that.”

“I would too. I hope you weren’t stuck like that for very long.”

“Thankfully it probably wasn’t too long until you guys came. Felt like an eternity though….ugh I can almost still feel his fucking hand around me.”

“I’m sure Adam kicking his ass right now. His eyes went all glowy, I don’t know what means but I assume that’s umm….overpowered mode or something.”

“That’s exactly what that is as far as I can tell,” Rhea broke her trance-like gaze to look at Emily.

“Oh? You know what it means?”

A few different theories of what it could mean for Adam ran through her mind. None of them put her at any ease.

“It happened once before. As far as I can tell, if Adam gets to that point then it’s his emotions that are running the show.”

“What happened the first time?” Why did she have a feeling she wasn’t gonna like the answer.

“It was during my freshman year in high school. It was lunch period one day, I was with my friends. Things were going fine until some of the popular kids were making fun of Adam. At first it was just verbal, then it escalated to them throwing shit at him for whatever reason. I think it was mostly food. Anyways Adam tried his best to ignore it.”

Rhea began the first part of the story before she sat up. She leaned back and crossed her arms as she absentmindedly looked ahead. She felt glad that she had Emily here, she felt more secure and less anxious about sharing a story like this. No unneeded reactions or anything. She was supportive, and one of the few outside their little family that took the issues that surrounded this magic thing seriously. Well, she was practically only non-Conover that knew about it, but that’s neither here nor there.

Not that Rhea ever told anyone else, she never felt comfortable enough back then that her high school friends wouldn’t laugh in her face and call her crazy. There was the heightened probability of her taking her friends to Fist City if they insinuated anything stupid about her brother. Which there was a good chance if she had told any of them about it.

She let out a weary, casual sign as she looked down at the table in front of them. She felt Emily gaze still on her, obviously waiting for her to continue. Emily held her hands together in her lap as she still listened to Rhea.

“But the taunting and name calling just got worse and worse, I got up, walked over and tried to get them to stop-” Rhea started to move her arms around for emphasis, clearly exasperated at the memory.

“-Eventually one of them took the homemade lunch that our parents made for us and dumped on him. Next thing you know everybody else was on the other side of the cafeteria. Adam was in glowy eyes mode and, sounds cliche as hell, but the weather started to accommodate what he was feeling-“

Emily interjected with a question, “So like, thunderstorms and lightning?”

Rhea took another breath and nodded, “Yeah. No one else dared to get close to him except me. Thankfully I was able to calm him down before anything else happened.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah,” There was a brief pause which lasted a few seconds, “I was also unfortunately nicknamed ‘Rhea: The Freak Slayer’ for most of high school after that,” Rhea finished while she moved her gaze to the brunette next to her.

“That’s not so good.”


	8. Chapter 8

A half hour and a change to casual later, Rhea was in the kitchen, (She had been here before with Adam on the rare time she or both of them needed a break from Earth. Thus some clothes of her’s were left here). She and Emily decided to make something to eat while they wait for Adam. When he’ll be back they wished they knew. It was Rhea’s idea to cook as a distraction from complete worry. 

“Any idea what we should make?” Emily asked as Rhea looked in the fridge.

Inside she mentally reminded herself not to worry, forget about the fact Adam was having a showdown with a crazy guy. Adam will come back safe and sound then things will be relatively normal after that. Yeah take a deep breath Emily, he’ll be alright. Nothing bad will happen. Hopefully. Even if her logical side knew Adam hadn't had much experience with this. 

She felt her heart beat faster at the thought of that crazy guy harming him. She wouldn’t know what to do if Adam was mortally hurt or, that would mean she and Rhea would be stuck here for the rest of their lives! Or what if that guy somehow sucked his powers and became more powerful? Crud she wasn’t doing a good job at this not worrying thing.

And it only added more to the increased anxiety she felt that she was in love with him. 

Rhea sighed unsatisfied and closed the door. Truth be told she was already having second thoughts about this, she too was just as worried as Emily was. Though to the third party observer, one would think they were the definition of calm under pressure. 

“Making taking a walk outside or….something will do us good better than cooking,” She suggested softly as she turned out to face Emily, “I can’t focus enough.”

Emily had her arms across her waist, she nodded. There was a mutual agreement and they stood there silently unsure of what to do. Rhea had her hands on her hips as silence passed between them. 

Emily quietly admitted with a soft resigned breath, “Ditto.”

She didn’t feel real hungry right now anyways. So with that, she followed Rhea out the door and into the warm sunshine. And there was a calming effect that was emitted from the whole area so that was nice too.

They meandered in a random direction for several minutes before either one of them spoke.

“I wish I was wherever Adam is to help him,” Emily confessed softly as she looked ahead on the ground.

“Yeah so do I. I still want to beat the crap out of Cupun,” Rhea candidly said as she paused to put her feelings into words.

She found it smart for Adam to send them to safety, but on the other hand what chances does Adam has? All his life he had to figure out on his own how to work the magic. He had no one to train him. Granted she doesn’t know for sure, but it seemed like Cupun might’ve had some training. Plus he was immortal apparently, he had a hell of a long time to master the art compared to her older brother.

What chances does her nerdy, nonconfrontational brother have against him in a fight with those kinda stats so to speak?

She felt better this time around knowing Adam is more proficient at it than during his high school years. 

Still.

“I’m torn between “oh Adam gonna defeat the guy’ and ‘Adam probably not gonna have a snowball chance in hell’.”

“Well we still have to be positive about this,” Emily did not wish to entertain the slightest possibility of the second option.

Instead, she just did her best to keep the optimism up front and center. And even then, she wasn’t sure how good of a job she was doing. He just had to make it through, he just had too. 

“Yeah but….you do realize what it means if he doesn’t right?” Rhea stopped in front of Emily with a mild agonized expression on her face.

“We’ll be permanently stuck here! And there is not that much in the fridge for both of us and sure there is tv and video games and...shit but there’ll be literally nothing else to do besides those things! No jobs, no other friends for us to hang out with, nobody is not gonna mourn our disappearance cause of the whole never fucking existed shit!” 

Rhea continued to ramble out in a bit of a panic mode, “And sure we can both figure out how to make our way here, but how long will we both last completely isolated!?”

Seemed liked ruining things was the Conover family tradition Emily thought with slight sarcasm. She quickly felt that was kinda rude to think, but in a way, Rhea’s mini vent did make her feel she was about to be on an episode of Rhea Ruins Everything. 

Emily gently gripped her shoulders, “Those are some...very painfully good points, but Rhea, it won’t do us both any good if we dwelled on the worst case scenario.”

Emily looked up at her with a reassuring look and Rhea’s shoulders visibly got more relaxed. Emily wasn’t sure if she was saying that more for Rhea or for her.

Emily closed her eyes for a moment and let out a mild annoyed sigh, “I feel like I’m the wrongest person to give that advice right about now….”

“You are right though Em. It’s just that it is a very real possibility we’re facing.”

“It is, but I refuse to believe it,” Emily stubbornly said in defiance of her logical side in the matter.  
___________________________

Emily and Rhea were on their way back to the house, they walked for what felt like an hour or so at the most. They could’ve taken their phones with them, but they figured there would be no point in a secluded place like this. Plus Adam would just poof here when he has finished anyway. That is if he wasn’t defeated. 

They were close to the front door when they noticed a sudden streak of blue light. They stopped, ready to fight back if it was Cupun. It could be Adam, but nothing wrong with being cautious. Shit, they should’ve taken some kind of hard object to use as a weapon just in case.

But thankfully it was Adam and the girls felt a huge rush of relief. Emily immediately rushed up to give him a hug with a big smile on her face.

“Adam!”

Oh, it felt so good to be in his arms again. Rhea meanwhile smiled as she walked up and gave him a hug as well. It was so nice to see her brother in one piece. Finally a well needed break from all the worrying the fight with Cupun gave her and Emily.

Adam was damn happy to see both of them as much as they were to see him. He had a big, boyish like grin. Like if he hadn’t just come back from what must’ve been an intense fight. He embraced them in a big hug and the three reveled in the moment. Nothing else mattered but the confirmation that everyone was safe.

“I’m so happy this is all over and you two are safe,” Adam exclaimed before he looked over at Rhea the only way a concerned brother would, “He didn’t do anything else to you? You’re alright?”

“I’m fine. Probably don’t want to see a doll of for a while for now but I’m fine,” Rhea chuckled weakly then paused as she felt only the slightest unsure about it, “It just felt...weird. I could see and hear everything but couldn’t move.”

“Don’t hesitate to tell me about any side effects, I can help fix it,” Adam's voice was soft and warm.

She gave him a grateful smile in response as Adam let go of the hug. It was then that she noticed the crystal looking ball Adam held in one hand. It looked like it contained a universe, she can see what looked like space inside, dotted with numerous stars and galaxies.

“Is that how you somehow defeated him?” Rhea guessed as she gestured to the ball.

Emily was interested as well. It looked like if a whole universe was contained inside. Which it had to be, it looked too realistic to have been faked. Adam beamed proudly of himself as he held it in front of them.

“Oh yeah! I gave what he wanted in a manner of speaking,” He began in the same cheerful, but bombastic tone as if he was ruining a common misconception, “I trapped Cupun inside a replica of Earth inside one of those tiny galaxies. He thinks he finally took over Earth, but here’s the thing. It’s all an illusion, the stars, galaxies, the people, everything. He just thinks it’s all real.”

“Whoa…” Rhea softly exclaimed, clearly impressed. It was a damn clever trap if she ever saw one. 

Granted the other times she knows were ‘catching a dumb criminal in the act’ stories she would hear recanted in court. Those seemed positively mundane compared to this.

Emily was still a little unsure, “Won’t he figure it out and go back after you?”

“I imagine so, but it’ll be a long while. I made sure the illusion was as realistic as possible.”

Emily and Rhea took another closer look before Adam put the glass in a pocket inside his jacket. He continued.

“Which brings me to the next topic I want to talk about before I fix everything,” Adam announced as he put his hands in his pockets. 

“I did some thinking for about 10 minutes before I came over here,” He admitted as he began to explain. His voice was steady and calm, “I don’t want anyone else to go through the same ordeal I did and having to deal with a crazy guy like him so um....”

Adam paused, he suddenly felt a little hesitant now when before he felt confident enough to bring up the decision to elongate his life. He felt it would be the best in order to protect any potential Guardian (and the world) from him. He also realized he would be more lonely in the long on so he wanted to ask Emily and Rhea as well if they wanted to join him in eternal life.

“I’m gonna become immortal in order to keep him in check once he gets out. And I want to ask you two if you wanted to um….become the same with me?” He finished with a genuine question.

Emily and Rhea looked at each other then back at Adam after he proposed the big question. It was one of those things where they had to think about it for a bit, one where you can’t just blurt out an answer as quick as you can.

“You obviously don’t have to take the offer, I don’t want to force anything. I just figured I’d ask cause you two are the closest people I know and I’ll pretty lonely otherwise.”

Adam hoped that didn’t come off as guilt trippy as it could’ve been. His worry was unfounded as Rhea and Emily could very well see that. They knew him well enough that when it came down to it, outside of the family, Emily was his only friend. 

After an anxious minute or two, Rhea spoke up. Even while she is still not entirely sure it is in her best interest, but on the other hand she didn’t want him to go through bone-crushing loneliness living in the future without any sort of family around. 

Rhea sighed casually and confidently smiled.

“Sign me up. I know you and I think you would feel better in 500 years with a family member around.”

“Count me in too,” Emily replied then she looked at Rhea awkwardly as she realized a mini new found problem. 

She realized she had yet to tell her that she is in love with Adam. If she wanted to explain her reasoning then Rhea would have to know that for context. Plus that would need to go hand in hand with the request she had in mind to circumvent the whole married to Murph problem.

“Umm, I think me and Adam should tell you something else before he...make shit right with the world.”

Adam looked at her momentarily confused before it dawned on him. They were too busy with defeating the bad guy to worry about the love aspect before. He turned a shade of red as he faced his younger sister. Rhea should definitely know about this.

“Oh right yeah-” He chuckled a little nervously. 

Not that Rhea would be against it for some strange reason, but let’s be honest, it is something she wouldn’t seen coming. Adam put his arm around Emily’s shoulder and gently pulled her closer into his embrace.

“We’re in love with each other. We even accidentally kissed earlier.”

“Accident on his part but I kissed back,” Emily admitted.

Rhea stood there a little befuddled, “.....What?”

Emily continued her explanation with a light smile, “Yeah that’s um...one of the reasons I’m taking up on the offer. I’m pretty sure I'm in love with Adam.”

It did do them both good to hear that Rhea didn’t seem to object to it, just merely surprised and understandably confused. She faced Emily with a look of realization.

“But wait, Em aren’t you…” However, her voice trailed off as she remembers a crucial fact in all this.

They were erased from Earth’s history so technically Emily was never married. Right.

“I was gonna ask about the marriage thing but never mind.”

Perhaps what Cupun did was somewhat a blessing in disguise in a way. She didn’t have to worry about the prospect of divorce, and she doesn’t feel like she is breaking the one major rule of a relationship. How can one cheat on someone if they were never married in the first place?

Rhea let out a semi-related frustrated sigh, “I still kinda wish I got another punch in on Cupun for erasing me and Emily from Earth.”

“Oh don’t worry Rhea, you have my utmost word he got what he deserved,” Adam grinned satisfactorily.

“Which speaking of, Adam I was thinking, um...” Emily started clearly and paused for a second as he looked at her.

Damn his pretty blue eyes and his cute stubble of a beard on his cute nerd face. She was sure Adam noticed her cheek suddenly blush up a bit.

“...do you think when you reset everything that you leave Melinda and Murph married? That would solve the whole marriage issue.”

Adam was all too happy to make that request and with a snap, everything fell into place. Emily and Rhea were put back on the map so to speak, careers back and everything. They didn’t feel too different with the whole immortality thing, but Rhea did bring up that they may all have to move to a different place after several decades as to not raise any suspicions. 

The only difference that was noticeable right off the bat, was a house that Emily and Adam now lived in together. They both had decided to start slow with dating instead of reality warping themselves married. They both felt that might be too rushed, plus they wanted to see if this would really work.

If it does then they decided Adam would simply work his magic. Why waste money with a grand expensive showcase of their love when a trip to the courthouse would suffice. Who the hell even needs the courthouse when magic was involved.

The two laid under the covers all snuggled together. Adam had one arm around Emily and in his other hand was a book he was reading. One of those humorous factual books Adam loved reading. Emily, meanwhile, rested her head on his shoulder. She felt the dull, but warm tingle of magical energy that danced on her back from his hand. Helped too that he slowly rubbed the area on her back in small circles.

It felt good, a nice and calm sensation that about lulled her to sleep.

“I got a question, what did you do with the glass ball? I haven’t seen it around in the last couple of days.”

“Oh I poofed it to another world for better security,” Adam explained as he glanced over at her.

He looked back at the book, he turned the page and quickly got all excited after a few seconds.

“Oh boy...this article is wrong! Would you like me to tell you why?”

Emily laughed lightly at his passionate, yet boyish smile.

“How about tomorrow?”


End file.
